Sundown Ranch, Inc.

Sundown Ranch, Inc.

ABOUT SUNDOWN RANCH, INC.

Set on 450 acres of land in Canton, Texas, Sundown Ranch provides residential treatment for young adults, aged 12 to 24, struggling with substance abuse. Psychiatric care for co-occurring mental health disorders is also available. The working ranch setting provides a environment that supports rehabilitation through physical activity along with traditional therapy. Sundown began operation in 1987.

TREATMENT & ASSESSMENT

Each individually tailored treatment plan begins with a physical exam, and the facility’s website emphasizes the fact that all programs are medically supervised.

Sundown Ranch’s programming combines 12-step principles with cognitive behavioral therapy and experiential therapies including a ropes course. The ranch also provides opportunities for on-site equine-assisted therapy. Residents participate in group and individual counseling sessions and family members are encouraged to participate in their loved one’s recovery through education, family systems model counseling, and weekend family programs.

Spirituality groups, trauma therapy, and vocational counseling are also provided. Adolescent clients who are still enrolled in school continue their education while in treatment through a fully accredited program on-site.

STAFF CREDENTIALS

According to the facility’s website, treatment team members are trained to be sensitive to specific challenges and emotions of young people. The center employs qualified professionals from the fields of psychiatry, addiction medicine, nursing, social work, and counseling.

ACCOMMODATIONS & AMENITIES

The campus is surrounded by trees and has walking trails and several outdoor seating areas. Residents can play basketball and volleyball, fish in an on-site pond, and participate in arts and crafts activities.

A staff dietician helps to accommodate special dietary needs.

WHAT ALUMNI SAY

Of four alumni polled by Best-rehabs.com, two provided highly positive feedback, one generally positive, and the fourth generally negative. Fifteen alumni reviews on Google were split with the opposite ratio; six were positive and nine highly critical.

Two Best-rehabs.com survey respondents rated each metric measured four or five out of five stars, including the effectiveness of treatment, availability of counseling options to fit individual preferences, and all aspects of accommodations, from meals to the facility’s cleanliness and opportunities for exercise and leisure activity.

A third alum also rated each of these areas highly, while offering less favorable perspectives on the use of 12-step practices and access to holistic therapies. The remaining former client was critical or just satisfied with all aspects of the facility except for meals, cleanliness, and staff qualifications.

One alum, reporting more than nine years of sobriety at the time of their review, wrote that he felt “safe and welcome” by caring and knowledgeable staff, many of whom were in recovery. Two specifically noted the value of being separated from their regular environment and lives during treatment.

While several critical and positive reviewers agreed on Google that the food was good, they offered conflicting views of the staff and overall experience at Sundown Ranch. One complained of an overemphasis on Christian practices, an issue also noted in a Best-rehabs.com review.

WHAT FRIENDS & FAMILY SAY

When asked how likely they were to recommend the facility to others, all four loved ones polled by Best-rehabs.com selected four out of five stars. This high level of satisfaction was reflected in several aspects evaluated by five loved ones, including opportunities for family participation and the effectiveness of treatment.

One parent described Sundown Ranch favorably as “Lots of rules, great food, no frills, very caring staff.” However, respondents were less impressed with the center’s holistic offerings, providing an average rating of just 2.3 stars.

In keeping with alumni ratings on Google, family members reviewing the rehab center on Google and HealthGrove tended to be extremely positive or emphatically negative. Five of eight HealthGrove reviews presented five-star ratings and three gave just one star. One repeated concern was the success in treating addiction while not adequately addressing other mental health needs.

FINANCING

There is currently no information provided on the facility’s website regarding its costs. Data from three of four alumni and all five parents polled indicated that treatment was affordable. However, three Google reviews mentioned problems with the program’s approach to finances.

Updated April 2017

Sundown Ranch, Inc. Reviews

  • Treatment Effectiveness
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  • Professional staff, caring and considerate. Work with families on weekend programs for education and group counseling. Cafeteria is awesome! Very structured enviroment. My son was here for drug addiction. Right on the border of being overage, we were thankful he was accepted. He was a functioning addict, which is very hard to convince there is a problem. He learned tools for trigger control, education! But he really developed a trust and had a relationship with his couselors. I had know idea how it would go at first and then he began to open up, participate and grew by the day. Change was in there but it took the relationship with this group for him to listen and learn! He trusted his counselors, and there began the change. He is now in sober living and is leader of the house. What he learned from Sundown, he decided to not even come home but transition right into sober living. He understands his addiction now and has placed himself in the best enviroment. We are so grateful to Sundown. A God send!Quality of counselors, strongly invested in the young people.
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  • Sundown Ranch is a working ranch away from the city and chaos of life. It's a good separation to focus on recovery. The staff are well trained, and the experience there is unforgettable. There are a variety of therapies as well as learning exercises. Location, room accommodations, level of hygiene. It is a strict and structured environment that helps address the problems with addiction. They offer a number of services as well as treatment options. All the staff are knowledgeable and compassionate. The facility offers a program that gives clients the tools to thrive in life.
  • Treatment Effectiveness
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  • Family counseling and participation No follow up Good for adolescents
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  • This facility is suited best for 18 to 24 yr olds. Awesome food ...and great for young adults. No frills. It's all about recovery and counseling. Lots of rules, great food, no frills, very caring staff. Perfect for 18 to 23 yr olds.
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  • One on one time if needed. Family participation when needed. For kid's up to 17yrs.old. would be great for older people too, maybe separated from kids. They kept patients busy even between classes, working with animals, such as horses, birds of different sorts, and sporting activities.
  • Treatment Effectiveness
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  • Great group councilors but too many in the group.
  • Treatment Effectiveness
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  • The counselors and assistant counselors are extremely knowledgeable, and most are in recovery themselves so they have the personal experience as well as educational experience to draw from. Only accepts private insurance or self pay. I now work at this facility as an assistant counselor. The recovery rate is one of the highest in the country. The owner of the facility as well as his family are very hands on and always available to staff and clienrs.
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  • It is successful if the child has a desire to stop. It is up to the person after they leave to continue treatment, he has not done that. They seemed successful in the beginning, but our son's attitude has slipped lately.
  • Treatment Effectiveness
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  • What I found when entering this facility was a knowledgeable staff, caring and support. Each of them having been through this facility before becoming involved as staff, each one knowing how manipulative an addicts behavior is, they have seen and heard it all. Each staff member is a support by the very nature of their own recovery. This facility has it all and I felt safe and welcome. I have the utmost regard for everyone at this treatment center. The grounds are beautiful, simple and conducive to inner searching for ones own spiritual path if you so desire. There is little time given for personal adventure. Classes, assignments, meetings, counseling and physical education is all part of this facility. Coed with men and women on either side and community involvement in the center we were taught that being with others had nothing to do with our success. Talking and sitting only with our own private group peers, never speaking or acknowledging the opposite sex allowed me to concentrate on the matter at hand without pressure to engage with others. This center was about my success nothing else. I attended, listened, studied, learned to follow rules for success and it has worked. I have been sober 9 years today, June 5 2014. Not once have I gone back out nor have I returned to the "at risk for relapse" group which they do offer at Sundown Ranch. I am alive because of the tools they offered, accepted willingly and grateful for its existence. Sundown Ranch, an awesome place for recovery beginnings. An awesome place to start a new life.
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  • ...They did not approve of my beliefs or lack of beliefs...Did not allow me to practice my religious beliefs.